CMSD and Charter School Partnership

The Cleveland Plan, signed into law in 2012, created partnership, a unique and exciting way for charter schools to work with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. As defined in Ohio law (R.C. 3311.86), a partnering charter school is a charter school located in Cleveland that is either sponsored by CMSD or signs an agreement with CMSD whereby the district and charter school agree to endorse each other’s programs.

Charter schools that partner with the district share in the proceeds of the local education levy (Issue 108) renewed by voters in 2016. The CMSD is the only district in Ohio—and one of the few in the country—that shares local tax dollars with charter schools.

In exchange, partner schools agree to allow the CMSD to include their enrollment data noted separately on the District’s report card and to have their academic performance data combined with comparable data from CMSD schools for the district’s state report card. Partner schools also agree to administer a conditions for learning survey and are part of the Cleveland Education Compact, where district and charter schools network, share best practices, and collaborate.

CMSD currently has 19 partner schools including 11 schools sponsored by the District.